i just came up with some exciting new monsters and i wanna shaaaaare:
In the glass, my own translucent reflection is joined by a horde of papery monsters: disconcertingly two-dimensional and stark white and crisply folded, like deadly origami. The monsters are enormous, easily twice my height--the reflection of the nearest is folded double, so its sharply-creased head hovers over my shoulder, tiny beady eyes glowing like menacing Scantron bubbles in faint mint green.
tagging @six-of-ravens and @maxbeewriting and also continuing the open tag, so if you see this, post your last line, too!
*interview proceeds with an enormous amount of feather ruffling and wing stretching. this has been edited out for brevity.*
► Name ➔ Lucius Kazan.
► Are you single ➔ Yeah.
► Are you happy ➔ Usually.
► Are you angry ➔ ...frequently.
► Are your parents still married ➔ Wow, that assumes a lot. I dunno where to start. Never married, “parents” is weird, it’s just Kolya and Nat and sometimes Grigori if you catch him in the right mood, and the old incubator got left at the first house, since it wasn’t worth salvaging.
NINE FACTS
► Birth Place ➔ Again: Assumes a lot. Island in the Bering Sea.
► Hair Color ➔ Black.
► Eye Color ➔ Blue.
► Birthday ➔ It’s “Air Day,” technically. Winter.
► Mood ➔ Right now? Fidgety. I don’t like interrogations. Too much attention.
► Gender ➔ Male? Weird place for this question.
► Summer or winter ➔ If “summer” just meant outdoor running and friends, probably that. As is . . . winter.
► Morning or afternoon ➔ Afternoon into night.
EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE
► Are you in love ➔ It’s not a place, it’s a verb. So no.
► Do you believe in love at first sight ➔ Never really thought about it. Uninterested.
► Who ended your last relationship ➔ *feather ruffling, arched eyebrow, head shake*
► Have you ever broken someone’s heart ➔ Not that I know of?
► Are you afraid of commitments ➔ Nope. Never know if something’ll work until you see it all the way through.
► Have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ I just got home. Who hasn’t hugged me within the last week? Grigori. That’s it.
► Have you ever had a secret admirer ➔ If you know, it’s not a secret any more, right?
► Have you ever broken your own heart? ➔ No? Are these all supposed to be about a “love life”, or . . . ?
SIX CHOICES
► Love or lust ➔ *another arched eyebrow* Why are these paired?
► Lemonade or iced tea ➔ Both sound weird. Is regular tea an option?
► Cats or Dogs ➔ Dogs. One dog in particular.
► A few best friends or many regular friends ➔ A few best friends.
► Wild night out or romantic night in ➔ I don’t think our definitions of “wild night out” are the same, but that one.
► Day or night ➔ Depends on the activity. Daytime for anything outside. Nighttime if it doesn’t require a vision advantage.
FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS
► Been caught sneaking out ➔ Out has never been the problem. Sneaking in is what gets me in trouble.
► Fallen down/up the stairs ➔ Stairs, balconies, an atrium, trees, cliffs, whatever--yes. I’m good at falling.
► Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔ Yeah. I’m working on it.
► Wanted to disappear ➔ A couple times, yeah. Just from one island to the other.
FOUR PREFERENCES
► Smile or eyes ➔ Don’t those go together? And why were there only four questions in the last section?
► Shorter or Taller ➔ Than . . . what? Or who? These are weird.
► Intelligence or Attraction ➔ I’d rather be intelligent.
► Hook-up or Relationship ➔ Both sound awful.
FAMILY
► Do you and your family get along ➔ Yeah.
► Would you say you have a “messed up life” ➔ About half, depending on when the weather turns.
► Have you ever ran away from home ➔ No.
► Have you ever gotten kicked out ➔ No.
FRIENDS
► Do you secretly hate one of your friends ➔ That’s not what “friend” means.
► Do you consider all of your friends good friends ➔ Yeah.
► Who is your best friend ➔ Thorben.
► Who knows everything about you ➔ It’d have to be a team effort.
Tagging @pyr0clast (thanks for the original tag!), @asexualbookbird, and @maxbeewriting!
Uh, so. I really like Sonos, and I really like Corcoran, and I really super like them together? They’re nemeses, sort of. Low-key. She’s my favorite supervillain daughter, and he’s my (surprisingly) favorite federal agent man, and this is the chapter in which I upgraded his descriptor from “federal agent” to “long-suffering federal agent.” Please have a snippet and love them too.
Sonos breathes out, and sound returns. She flicks the folder shut, stands, and grins. “Welp, that’s all I needed to know. Thanks a million, Connie. I won’t tell anyone about our huddle up if you don’t.”
He shakes his head, just once. He’ll have to have a discussion with the receptionist. “The file, please.”
“Oh, no, this is mine now. They’re just prints. I know you’ve got the digitals still. You can say I stole them.”
“That’s what you’re doing.”
“Yeah, but you can say it like you put up a fight and lost, instead of letting me walk out with them. Again: I won’t tell if you don’t. Promise.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose. He can’t actually stop her, of course. Not here, and not now. “This doesn’t change anything.”
“Oh, I know. Soundproof box, serve time for my crimes, etcetera, etcetera. Aware. And I fully intend to continue to be a pain in your ass, so you’ve got that to look forward to, although I’m sure this was my single shot at unexpected office hours. That’s all right. I’ll come up with something clever for next time, too. Until then: Ciao!”
The chittering does not subside, but it quiets, melds with the gentle purr of the engine, hums comfortably. Rackham feels both in his chest, coupled with anticipation. Not yet.
But very soon.
I tag @midstorycrisis and anyone else who wants in! And if you want me to start tagging you in writing games like this, feel free to drop me an ask and I totally can!
tagged by @midstorycrisis to find the words link(ed), desperate, and gain--thanks so much! this is so exciting!! I decided to use Angel Wings instead of Average because AW actually has all three (and also I miss Feathers Son something fierce right now)!
link: He felt a primary or two snag in the barbed wire topping the chain-link, but he flared his too-heavy wings to slow his fall and rolled as best he could, which was disgusting even with the raincoat.
desperate: He didn’t think Stone could muster an army in ten hours. Or, at least, he desperately hoped he couldn’t.
gain: Whatever he was in—it definitely felt and sounded like in—continued to bob up and down with gained and lost weight, and eventually he felt someone slide onto the bench beside him.
I tag @maxbeewriting to find wing(s), purple, and shriek.
tagged by @midstorycrisis to find words endless, urgent, doubt, and land/ed/ing--seriously this is my new favorite game i love it!! more AW for y’all:
endless: He was kneeling on grimy off white linoleum between two filthy grey walls in a wide hallway that felt endless.
urgent: This was more exposed than he wanted, too exposed, but Jorge’s urgent warnings from the afternoon echoed on loop between his ears and even though Desh had let go he hadn’t moved away.
landed: He fluffed his feathers and started to close his notebook when Desh’s massive hand landed on the pages. Lucius froze and glanced at him. Desh smiled lazily.
doubt:
“But you know they’re skipping cardio, right? It makes it easy to make them look bad.”
Arric quirked an eyebrow and glanced at Riko with a smile. Riko grunted and shrugged, and Arric said, “What did I tell you?”
“All right, all right,” Riko growled.
Then it was Lucius’s turn to arch an eyebrow, and he waited for Arric to explain. “I figured they had been. Others of us were more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.”
i tag @maxbeewriting to find wind, plant, music, and shoe.
every time i see you post something about the SOLE project my brain goes like "same hat!!!" because i also have child lab experiment characters. it's my favorite trope :) -maxbeewriting
@maxbeewriting SAME HAT!!!
It is the best trope and I can honestly write seventeen different stories with the same premise because I love it so much.
